A Study in Romance
by Teacups and Owls
Summary: Annabeth is attending college. An unexpected encounter makes for an interesting first day. AU. Rated T for language and later chapters.


Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. :)

~Italics are Annabeth's thoughts~

 **A Study in Romance**

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Annabeth fiddled with the pencil sitting on her desk. She had been waiting in the lecture hall for twenty minutes and was growing impatient for class, (The first class of her college career), to begin. She had been nervously prepping all morning- brushing up on all the facts and figures. Luckily, Greek Mythology had always been one of Annabeth's favorite subjects, so there wasn't too much that she needed to relearn.

She glanced up at the clock on the wall.

 _9:28. Only two minutes to go. Breathe, Annabeth. You can do this._

Finally, a man in a brown tweed jacket stood up and took the podium. His eyes twinkled slightly and his silver stubble caught the sunlight streaming through the window as he opened his mouth to speak.

Suddenly, the door swung open with a bang. A boy with messy black hair stumbled through the doorway looking slightly harassed. Annabeth looked at him in surprise. Normally the idea of someone being late- especially to the first day of class- would completely scandalize her. But something about the look on this boy's face made her reconsider. He just looked so… _hopeless_.

"I'm so sorry I'm late Professor!" he breathed. "I swear it won't happen again."

The grey haired man glanced at the boy in the doorway with a look of gentle sympathy.

"No need to apologize Mr…"

"Jackson, sir."

"Ah. Mr. Jackson. I am more than willing to offer amnesty to new students on the first day of class- and especially when they express such genuine regret. Please, if you would kindly take a seat we can begin our first lesson together." He smiled kindly at the younger man as he shuffled self-consciously toward the only available seat.

Annabeth glanced curiously at the boy as he dropped his bag and plopped unceremoniously into the chair adjacent hers. With a start, she realized that he was dripping water. And this wasn't your run of the mill, just-got-out-of-the-shower look. He was completely soaked, clothes and all.

He flashed her a sheepish grin. "I'm Percy. Percy Jackson."

"Um. Hi Percy, I'm Annabeth Chase. Is it storming?" As far as she could remember, the weather channel hadn't called for rain.

"Storming?" Percy asked, a gentle blush blooming on his cheeks. "No- no it's not raining at all actually."

"Oh." She replied embarrassedly. "Well then how-"

Her question was cut short as the Professor interjected playfully, "If the two of you don't mind, I believe it's about that time."

"Sorry Professor!" exclaimed Annabeth as Percy grinned apologetically.

The older man smiled kindly at the two students in front of him and moved to address the rest of the class.

"Now, as some of you may know, my name is Professor Brunner. I have been teaching at this institution for 31 years and I have loved every moment of it. It has not always been easy, in fact, as with most things in life, it is almost always incredibly challenging. However, it has been worth it. And I hope that each and every one of you finds this course enlightening and helps you to discover something new about yourself. My advice to you is this- If you find yourself faced with a seemingly impossible challenge, you must realize that nothing is impossible. With the help of a few close friends and several well placed questions, you will find that you can achieve much more than you ever realized. I will do my best to help you succeed- in this course, and in life."

A raven haired, olive skinned boy toward the back of the room raised his hand. With one eyebrow raised and looking rather unimpressed, he scoffed "What could you possibly teach us in a _Mythology_ course that would apply to real life?"

Annabeth stared. She couldn't believe that anyone could be so brazen with a teacher- especially one as kindly as Professor Brunner.

"Excellent Question Mr. DiAngelo." Responded the professor, calm as ever. "Would anyone like to give it a shot?"

Annabeth was about to answer when Percy's hand shot into the air beside her. She sat in shocked silence as he began his response.

"Well, I think that a lot of things can be learned from Greek Mythology. There are a bunch of stories that tie into stuff that happens today. Like how the goddess, Artemis, had that band of lady warriors- What were they called? The Huntresses? Yeah I think that's it. Anyways, sometimes in ancient Greece, just like in our world today, women were abused by their husbands. They were hardly even allowed out in public. So Artemis took them away and trained them to be badass warriors so they didn't have to stay with their husbands. That story sort of reminds me of my mom. She used to be married to this awful guy. He treated her like she was nothing, but she put up with it out of fear. For a long time, I watched her suffer. But my mom was strong. And eventually she kicked him out of our house and took her life back. Greek mythology isn't based on a bunch of fake, obscure bullshit. It's based on things that are really relatable, even today."

Professor Brunner nodded proudly. "Excellent response Mr. Jackson." He glanced at Nico, "This is just one example of how Mythology can apply to real life situations. I promise there are many more that we will go over throughout the course of this program. Now, I would like to administer a pre-test of sorts. It will not count toward your grade, so please do not panic. However, I encourage you to take it very seriously, as I would like to know what we'll be working with this term."

The Professor walked throughout the room handing out free response sheets and test booklets. When he was finished, he sat down at his desk and announced, "This test contains 25 multiple choice questions and one essay. There is no minimum word count. I would just like you to answer as fully as you are able. You have one hour. You may begin."

Annabeth set to work right away. She breezed through the multiple choice section in ten minutes and then began writing the essay. By the 30-minute mark, she had completed her essay (A full 10 pages) and placed it proudly on the Professor's desk. As she turned around to walk back to her desk, she caught Percy's eye. His face seemed to say, "Are you superhuman? TEN PAGES?" She tucked a blonde curl behind her ear and shrugged sheepishly as she took her seat. Percy shook his head, exasperated. As he did so, something flat, and greenish-brown fell out of his hair and landed with a splat on his desk. Eyes wide, he looked between his desk and Annabeth. She glanced at the mystery object, confused, and with a sudden look of realization, broke into a fit of hysterical, silent giggles.

" _Seaweed?"_ she mouthed clutching her stomach and gasping for breath between laughs.

Percy blushed Scarlet. "Later." He mouthed back. Five minutes later, he got up and placed his five-page essay on Professor Brunner's desk.

At that moment, the professor put his final comment on the top of Annabeth's test. He followed Percy back to the joint desk and said, "Ms. Chase, this is quite possibly the highest quality paper I have ever received. I am very excited to have you in my class. Excellent work." With a wink he returned to his desk and faced the class. "Good work today everyone! I'll see you all bright and early Wednesday morning."

Percy smirked at Annabeth as she began packing up her things. "Good work today Wise Girl."

She grinned back at him and picked the piece of seaweed off of his desk. As she moved to exit the room, she handed it to him. "Good work to you too, Seaweed Brain." With a wink, she opened the door and set off across campus. She couldn't help but smile.

 _I think this year is going to be fun._

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 _Thanks! Reviews welcome and appreciated. :)_


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